4 Years of Estimates - Payment Plan

dickibobboy

Hi all, 

Does anyone have any idea on how British Gas handle payment plans for large debts? I’ll hopefully get to speak to them tomorrow but their working hours and hold times makes it difficult during work times!

It seems for the last 4 years my gas readings have been all based on estimated usage. I was submitting my meter readings through my account but there was some strange issue where i had two accounts somehow linked but not linked - i eventually got this sorted in late 2020.

I have no proof i submitted the readings but probably something about my multiple calls trying to sort my accounts out. 

Since this time i've had people come out to read the meter and my DD has fluctuated now and again so thoight nothing of it, i live in a well insulated house with just myself. My current billing is bi-annual, I can’t find any emails from them in general, maybe they were filtered into spam and auto deleted as they do. 

I’m not trying to get out of paying, it’s my fault and i’ll need to pay for the units i’ve used over this time. I tend to not really look at my account, my electricity when i moved in was on a prepayment meter key from the last owner and it suited me fine. British Gas did try to fit a smart meter not long after but the signal wasn’t strong enough so left it all as is.

I’ve since had a smart meter fitted a couple of months ago and now i’ve seen the bill from the removed meter calculations. My latest bill sits at £1500 debt. 

Does anyone know how long they’ll expect me to pay over? Obviously things are a little more tighter and both the electricity & gas costs have risen significantly. 

Thanks

Ultrasonic

The first thing to do is to check the bill is correct. Does the final meter reading you are being billed for tally with the readings you took yourself?

Mstty

It's better if you think about how much extra you can afford over the direct debit needed for your usage.

Can you afford £150 over the DD to pay off the debt in 10 months or £100 to pay it off over 15 months. This is something you could put forward when contacting them as otherwise they may put a pre payment meter in if it gets much worse.

dickibobboy

Aiming to pay it off as soon as i can so i’ll go with a decent amount with what i can work with. 

The calculations do look correct compared to the pictures i took the night before my old meter was taken out. 

I think the main annoying part is that it’s got to pretty much 4 years without them writing a letter or making a phone call about it - again i know i should have checked myself. Hopefully i can work out a decent payment plan with the option to add to my account should i have any extra each month. 

MWT

Can you put some dates on the various meter changes you mention as I can't quite figure out when you shifted from the Pre-pay to the previous 'dumb' meter and then on to the smart meter?

Reason I ask is that BG do have an obligation to provide you with an accurate bill at least once every 12 months, so if they have left you running on estimates for 4 years they can't just decide to do one catch-up bill to cover that entire period...

dickibobboy

MWT said:

Can you put some dates on the various meter changes you mention as I can't quite figure out when you shifted from the Pre-pay to the previous 'dumb' meter and then on to the smart meter?

Reason I ask is that BG do have an obligation to provide you with an accurate bill at least once every 12 months, so if they have left you running on estimates for 4 years they can't just decide to do one catch-up bill to cover that entire period...

There’s only been one meter change which was a couple of months ago to smart. The gas has always been a standard gas meter, the electric was always prepay since i moved in.

They did attempt to change over to smart a few months after i moved in in 2018 but because the location is down a cellar the signal was weak so this was abandoned. I can’t prove i was submitting any readings in the account mess up or that when they’d sent people out to see the meter why they wasn’t used or what dates they actually came. 

I’ve now moved onto monthly billing and just glad i have smart meter fitted, if only it had worked the first time!

MWT

dickibobboy said:

MWT said:

Can you put some dates on the various meter changes you mention as I can't quite figure out when you shifted from the Pre-pay to the previous 'dumb' meter and then on to the smart meter?

Reason I ask is that BG do have an obligation to provide you with an accurate bill at least once every 12 months, so if they have left you running on estimates for 4 years they can't just decide to do one catch-up bill to cover that entire period...

There’s only been one meter change which was a couple of months ago to smart. The gas has always been a standard gas meter, the electric was always prepay since i moved in.

So if you have not had an accurate gas bill in the last 4 years and the result is a large debt on the gas account, you need to ask them to review what has happened and explain to you why they have not applied the Ofgem 'back billing rules'.

dickibobboy

MWT said:

dickibobboy said:

MWT said:

Can you put some dates on the various meter changes you mention as I can't quite figure out when you shifted from the Pre-pay to the previous 'dumb' meter and then on to the smart meter?

Reason I ask is that BG do have an obligation to provide you with an accurate bill at least once every 12 months, so if they have left you running on estimates for 4 years they can't just decide to do one catch-up bill to cover that entire period...

There’s only been one meter change which was a couple of months ago to smart. The gas has always been a standard gas meter, the electric was always prepay since i moved in.

So if you have not had an accurate gas bill in the last 4 years and the result is a large debt on the gas account, you need to ask them to review what has happened and explain to you why they have not applied the Ofgem 'back billing rules'.

Thanks for that, i wasn’t aware it was such a thing. 

I’ve done some reading with mixed results. Some say it’s no longer the onus of the supplier to gather meter readings. Others say they should attempt to take a meter reading (more so if it’s been a long period such as mine). 

• You have not co-operated with attempts to obtain meter readings or resolve queries requested by the supplier. This includes failing to allow access to the property or failing to respond to requests for meter details or meter readings

Technically it’s not the suppliers fault, i did provide readings - they don’t have a log of them so i can’t prove this is true. They could have sent emails but i’ve not seen them. What they didn’t do however is send any letters or calls alerting me of this - if so i’d jumped straight on it. There has been people to see the meter, i assumed this was all part of the norm, they were always in and out in a few minutes. My gas bills seemed comparable to my neighbours taking into account full house insulation, occupancy etc..

Maybe it’s worth going through the process and see what they say. 

MWT

Can't hurt to ask ...

dogshome

Over 4 years Gas costs have changed considerably, with the real hike period starting in the winter of 20/21.

So does this Bill give a breakdown of the debt cost each year? - If it does not it should do.

t0rt0ise

You could write a formal complaint explaning everything including having sent in meter readings. In my experience the complaints department is manned by sensible people whereas everyone else you might speak to are rather more stupid.